The user of liquid, semi-liquid or relatively viscous liquids, such as edible oils, salad dressing preparations, shampoos, lotions, etc. has always desired a means for dispensing such products in a regulated manner.
However, it is evident that, in practice, the user generally obtains a non-regulated product flow, which much of the time is in an amount or quantity not desired by the user.
Generally, the containers or bottles which contain these products are provided with threaded caps or caps with an unbreakable seal (as in the case of oils). However, a disadvantage of this type of caps is that, when the user needs to remove the cap from the container, it is often found that cap has been affixed too tightly which makes its removal very difficult.
Another disadvantage of these types of caps is that since they are usually manufactured with a removable piece, it is always necessary to remove it from the container in order to extract the contents. This action gives rise to the fact that, when the user repositions the removable piece, it is often not well-seated or properly threaded on the neck of the container, thus increasing the risk of losing the cap and, as a consequence, exposing the container contents to dirt, humidity, etc.
An additional disadvantage of the prior art removable caps is that when the user wishes to obtain a definite or certain quantity of the product, an undesired quantity is often obtained by the user, due to a vacuum action on the inside of the container at the time its contents are extracted.
Still a further disadvantage of these prior art caps is that the majority of them are manufactured in four or five pieces and, therefore, it is necessary to have separate molds, machines and operators for each component, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs.
Based on the above, it was concluded by the inventor of the present invention that, in order to avoid the need of machines and operators for each component part as required by prior art caps, it was necessary to create a combination of components that could be coupled among themselves by simple mechanical assembly of the parts, and which, once assembled, would remain firmly interlocked and fastened together.
Furthermore, it was concluded by the inventor that, in order to reduce the number of components, it was necessary to re-design and simplify the components such that they could be manufactured integrally by a single machine in order to be mechanically assembled together, thus reducing the number of stages and machines to be used in the assembly operation.
In accordance with the above, the present invention relates to a cap for bottles and the like which cap reduces the number of components to only two by providing a design which can be molded on single injection-molding machine.
Additionally, with the cap of the present invention, it is not necessary to remove the cap from the bottles in order to extract the container's contents, since by merely turning one of its components it is possible to obtain a desired quantity of product from the container. The cap includes a detachable ring which is broken when first used, which guarantees that the product will reach the consumer having the same quality as when the bottles were filled, thus preventing the products from being tampered with during the handling thereof between the manufacturer and the consumer. Similarly, once the consumer wishes to close the container, he only needs to turn the cap in the opposite direction in order to return it to its original position.
Similarly, with the cap design of the present invention, the vacuum action inside the container is avoided since the cap has at least two exit orifices, one of which is used to allow the product to exit, and the other of which is used to permit the entry of air into the container.